As the United States slips from its status as the globe's number one economic power, small numbers of Americans continue to amass staggering amounts of wealth, while simultaneously inequality trends toward historic levels.

Apparently in many parts of the country, the minimum wage is below the poverty line, so in essence you can be employed, working over 40 hours a week, and still unable to provide a for a family of three. I found this fact perplexing, so I thought I needed the careful logic of Abbott and Costello.

This notion that opportunity should follow hard work is at the heart of the American economic ethos. While I believe in the power of markets, I also believe that the current minimum wage fails to meet a basic standard of reasonableness, and violates American values.

The empirically established fact that minimum wages don't hurt the people who get it isn't the same as showing that they help them. So why do we need a minimum wage and why would abolishing it be so harmful?

Having a selective Fed that lends money to supporters at zero percent and bails them out whenever they get into trouble while forcing all others to borrow at extortionist rates without a 'get out of jail free card' is unacceptable.